Verbal Violence: Quarterfinals

This tournament consists of eight of the greatest verbal heavyweights in our sport engaging in verbal violence, a competition that only really exists and makes sense in my head. Bouts will be judged on such things as the ability to use puns effectively, swearing, and actually pointing out things that are interesting in a fight. Points may be deducted for unwarranted hyperbole, useless information and ignoring the fighters to talk about people in the crowd, Randy Couture's new movie, etc.  

Mike Goldberg (UFC) vs Micheal Schiavello (HDnet)

The first quarter final sees the UFC's Mike Goldberg take on the well travelled Australian Micheal Schiavello. While Goldberg has been tried and tested on the biggest stage, Schiavello has valuable international experience, having said “Goodnight Irene” very loudly all over the world.

Round 1:

The round begins with both fighters tentatively but dutifully describing the action, in spite of the action consisting mostly of feints and leg kicks. Goldie hands Schiavello an easy opening saying “Anderson Silva like in his use of the clinch is Fabricio Werdum, Joe”, but Schiavello fails to capitalise by pointing out that no, he isn't.

Cage Warriors' (Somehow Overlooked) Female 125lb Tournament

Sexton vs Daly was epic.
Photo via cagequeen.co.uk

Cage Warriors Fighting Championship is currently putting on some great shows in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. In its female flyweight tournament, they have featured three of the top ten fighters in the world, with very little fanfare from the MMA community. I had a very brief moan about Rosi Sexton's exciting victory over Aisling Daly being somewhat overlooked by the MMA media over the weekend. Now I'd like to give and over view of the Cage Warriors women's flyweight tournament so far and give a little preview of the final which should come later this year.

Fight videos and commentary after the jump.

Where's the love for Sexton vs Daly?

Last night was an all round confusing one for me. Cage Warriors Fighting Championship put on a stellar show of fights, streamed free at MMA Junkie, headlined by a heavyweight title bout between Mike Hayes and DJ Linderman. The first perplexing part was to see two relatively pedestrian heavyweights flop around at the top of a card that featured two fighters (Rosie Sexton and Aisling Daly) right at the top of their division. The other strange part of the night was that in a night of great fights put on by arguably the biggest promotion in Europe, most of my favourite internet haunts were keeping quiet about it.

In hindsight, I understand that the two fights above the women's flyweight tournament semifinal were title fights and that promoters want those title fights to headline. However, perhaps the Sexton vs Daly fight should not have been on this card at all.

As for the lack of coverage, I can attribute that to this bout being held in Europe and there being a general lack of attention for European MMA. When you add that to the lack of attention women's MMA tends to get, you would expect even a massive fight like this one to get overlooked. That we can expect the MMA media to miss a fight between two top ten fights in a weight class is a pretty sad state of affairs.

MMA Writers Should Strive to be Professional

In the last month, there have been a few incidents which have led to a fair amount of criticism for certain big name fighters. Nick Diaz has been criticized for his inability to produce his medical marijuana card and for his World Ju Jutsu Expo no show. Alaistair Overeem has been lambasted for his recent suspension for having an abnormal testosterone to epitestosterone ratio.

Two other fighters have caught my eye with comments recently, reflecting on the way the media treat fighters when allegations arise. Chael Sonnen has been pretty critical of the media's judgmental reaction to Alaistair Overeem's suspension. Sonnen believes that since no banned substance was found in Overeem's system, media members who criticized him for cheating did so without knowing the full facts. Josh Thomson has recently voiced his own reaction to the way the MMA media talks about fighters in an interview with TapouT Radio (and quoted at Bloody Elbow). He was reacting to rumours being circulated that he had sustained serious injury while training for his upcoming fight with Gilbert Melendez. Thomson was worried that irresponsible people were writing things without thinking through the consequences for the fighters, in this case giving Melendez a heads up to a potential weakness.

jiMMA is back!

jiMMA has been on hiatus for a few weeks, while I have been trying out staff writing over at a Fansided blog called DocOctagon. Staff writing was fun, but I'm coming back to writing two or three times a week until I get the chance to write for a bigger blog.

Jessica Penne vs Lisa Ellis-Ward Preview

Recent History


While Lisa Ellis-Ward has lost her last two fights, those losses were to two of the biggest names in the lower weight classes, Megumi Fujii and Jessica Aguilar.  For this fight, Ellis-Ward drops down to 105 lbs.  Jessica Penne is fighting for the first time since the end of 2010, for which she blames the trickiness of finding appropriate opponents in her weight class.  That fight was a submission victory over Amy Davis.

via womentalksports

Invicta FC One: Coenen vs Ruyssen Preview

Women's MMA is in the spotlight this weekend as all female promotion Invicta Fighting Championships hosts its first ever event.  The event takes place in Kansas and is streamed live through the Invicta FC website.  When you combine a really strong first card with the fact that there is no Bellator or UFC card happening this weekend, the MMA community should really keep their eyes on Invicta this weekend.

via kampfkunst